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Consumer Protection

U.S. PIRG, along with Consumers for Auto Reliability and Safety (CARS) and the Center for Auto Safety, is challenging in court recent actions by the Federal Trade Commission that put the health and safety of millions of Americans at risk. This week, we amended our previous court filings because the FTC has now filed unacceptable decrees with six, not three, used car dealers.

The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has now filed unacceptable consent decrees with 3 more used car dealers, which we and our co-plaintiffs Center for Auto Safety and Consumers for Automobile Reliability and Safety (CARS) consider to be in violation of several provisions of law. We claim that the agency’s decisions to allow such demonstrably unsafe used vehicles to be sold to the public as “safe,” “repaired for safety issues,” or “subject to a rigorous inspection” violate several provisions of law. So we've updated our petition for review to the DC Circuit, U.S. Court of Appeals to challenge a total of 6 (not 3) of the agency's actions.

The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has now filed unacceptable consent decrees with 3 more used car dealers, which we and our co-plaintiffs Center for Auto Safety and Consumers for Automobile Reliability and Safety (CARS) consider to be in violation of several provisions of law. We claim that the agency’s decisions to allow such demonstrably unsafe used vehicles to be sold to the public as “safe,” “repaired for safety issues,” or “subject to a rigorous inspection” violate the FTC Act's Section 5 prohibition against unfair and deceptive practices and other points of law. So we've updated our complaint against the FTC to challenge a total of 6 of its actions.

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau receives more complaints about debt collection than about any other topic. The complaints are submitted by consumers who reach out to the CFPB for help resolving problems with debt collectors and other problems in the financial marketplace.

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau has helped consumers reclaim billions of dollars lost through unfair financial practices. As of the end of 2016, the CFPB had returned more than $11.8 billion to 29 million customers.

Commonsense consumer protections for prepaid cards against fraud, hidden fees and overdraft charges are on the Congressional chopping block. Resolutions have been introduced in both the House and the Senate that would roll back an important prepaid card rule created by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau last year.

Last fall, a divided three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit wrongly concluded that the leadership structure of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau violates the Constitution. U.S. PIRG Education Fund, along with many others, urged the full D.C. Circuit to rehear the case and correct the obvious errors in the panel’s decision. We were pleased when the D.C. Circuit agreed with our position and decided to rehear the case.